The present invention relates to an apparatus for inputting information provided to information equipment having an image sensor. More particularly, this invention relates to apparatus for inputting information capable of inputting and editing information and easily operating equipment such as a portable telephone or a small-sized portable terminal having an image sensor.
In recent years, exchange of text information by electronic mail as well as oral speech utilizing information equipment for communication, including a portable telephone and PHS (Personal Handyphone System) found wide applications. Some portable telephones have an image sensor, and picked-up images are expected to be frequently used as the information transmitted in electronic mail. In the near future, a communication unit such as electronic mail using portable communication information equipment having an image sensor are expected to play a crucial role in the exchange of information between individuals.
As a current text input unit for producing sentences for electronic mail using a portable telephone, the ten-keys for inputting the telephone number are mainly used. This device, however, is inconvenient for inputting a long character string. There is also a method as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 09-212281 utilizing a jog dial for selecting a list of telephone number registration. In this method, however, the jog dial must be rotated while manipulating the ten-keys, in particular, when operating the portable telephone in one hand. The use of the jog dial as a text input unit for sentences for electronic mail other than the original object thereof, however, poses the problem of low operability.
Also, as a method of accelerating text input, a method is available in which a character table with a two-dimensional arrangement of Japanese characters is displayed on the liquid crystal screen of a portable telephone, and this table is scrolled by a directional button such as a cross key to select a character. This method, however, is inferior in operability. Another method of scrolling a two-dimensional character table is by using two jog dials in horizontal and vertical directions as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-212708. This method, however, requires the operation of two jog dials in addition to the ten-keys, and therefore it is difficult to input the text with one hand and also leads to the problem of low operability. Still another method is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-305748 using two acceleration sensors, in which the character table can be scrolled in two dimensions while holding the portable equipment. This method, though having an improved operability for text input, has an increased number of parts and is undesirable from the view point of production cost.
As described above, the conventional apparatus for inputting information constituting a unit for inputting sentences for the electronic mail or like communication using information equipment such as a portable telephone has posed an operability problem. Further, additional parts such as the acceleration sensor may be required increasing production cost.
It is an object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for inputting information in which the operation of the information equipment having an image sensor by user is calculated as a covered distance using the image picked up by the information equipment, and a symbol table such as a character table is scrolled using the result of calculation, thereby making it possible to input the symbol with a single hand. Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for inputting information in which the symbol table is designed to be presented immediately even on a comparatively small display screen of a portable information equipment, thereby improving the symbol input rate and the operability. Still another object of the invention is to provide a recording medium for recording an information input program for inputting a program for the operation described above.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided an apparatus for inputting information comprising an image input section for acquiring image information through an image sensor, a motion calculation section for calculating the covered distance from the image information of the image input section, an information selection section for selecting symbol information on a symbol table in operatively interlocked relation with the covered distance calculated by the motion calculation section, and an information displaying section for displaying the symbol table and the symbol information selected.
Further, the information displaying section comprises a symbol area selection unit for selecting an area in the table containing a desired symbol in the information selection section, and a symbol information selection unit for selecting the desired symbol from the area selected by the symbol area selection unit, wherein the symbol table and the selected symbol area and the selected symbol information are displayed on the information display section.
Further, the information selection section has a unit for holding a predetermined covered distance, and selecting the symbol information of the symbol table in operatively interlocked relation with the covered distance calculated by the motion calculation section with a predetermined covered distance added thereto.
Further, the motion calculation section calculates an optical flow using a projection data in the directions along rows and columns of the image information, thereby calculating the covered distance by a motion vector of an X component and a Y component.
Further, the motion calculation section calculates the optical flow using a two-dimensional image data of the image information, and calculates a mean vector thereof as a covered distance.
Further, the information selection section further includes a data base, the information corresponding to the selected symbol information is selected from the data base and displayed on the information display section.
Further, the symbol table is displayed one-dimensionally in the information display section.
Further, a part of the symbol table is displayed in the information display section.
Further, upper and lower ends or left and right ends of a peripheral portion of the symbol table are virtually coupled to each other and displayed in the information display section.
Further, an effect sound output section for outputting an effect sound in accordance with the symbol held in the information selection section is provided.
Further, an image registration section for registering the image information of the image input section is provided.
According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided a readable medium for storing instructions, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to execute steps of calculating a covered distance from image information, holding a symbol selection area on a symbol table, and updating the symbol selection area in operatively interlocked relation with the covered distance.